Hi All,
Has anyone got one of these? Disappointed after fitting it to find there was no room for the electric fan which was supplied with it ! The top outlet is at the wrong angle too
I reckon I will need to cut the brackets off and put them on the other side (Grill side) and wire it to blow instead of suck! Shame as its really well made Car is 1962 MK 2 was 2.4 but now 3.8

 

Although highly efficient and very cheap compared to an original replacement radiator or even having your old radiator recored I am not a fan of them. Personally I do not think the look good under the bonnet unless they are highly polished or perhaps painted black as per the original radiator. I striped the black paint off mine and polished the brass radiator top having had the original radiator recored.

 

Is there room in the front ?

 

That's where I'm going to put it!

 

Kenlowe electric helper fans of the past were always fitted between the grill and radiator.

When I'm presented with parts like that I return them as not as described or fit for purpose.

I just fitted one of Barratts uprated radiators. Car runs as cool as a cucumber.

Looks original & authentic.

Like Cass I'm not a fan of those aluminium radiators.

 

That's Right, Kenlows were always at the front of the Rad
I understand about the originality, but I dont mind period modifications, I remember working on Racing Cars in the 60s where craftsmen made ally rads just like this. It is very well made and will be extremely efficient. Nice Engine Bay by the way
I purchase the Rad at the start of the restoration around 9 months ago so I think it may be a bit late to return it. I have informed them its pretty useless as it stands!

 

Try & get them to do any mods you need free of charge.

 

If you want to do a bit of modification, the pusher fan from 80's and 90's Mercedes 560 and 300's is the right diameter for a pusher. It was designed as a pusher for the air conditioning, but it moves plenty of air and keeps my car cool. It didn't take much modification to make a bracket to fit it.

 

I am a fan of the aluminum radiators and they have worked great in several of my cars including my 3.8s. Jeggs and Derale have very slim line electric fans that will work for your setup; I am using a puller and a pusher and they do a great job even with my more demanding V8.

 

No, I will do it It took two months to arrive and I had to pay import duties. I dont have the facilities to weld ally so I will get it ready and take it to a company that I use. I have messaged the supplier but have not had a reply as of yet

 

Cheers Jagboi64,
That's exactly what im going to do
Ray

 

Primaz
Cheers

 

Understood. Where did it come from ~ China? In coastal areas of South Africa we find that the fins of the core of their alloy radiators corrode & fall off. Material chosen is not of the best.

Don't get me wrong. Having spent a lot of time in China building our oilco business, the Chinese can produce superb quality in almost anything but then you must pay. Want it cheap & they will make it cheap.

BTW ~ The Barratts upgraded (tropical) radiator is made by Northampton Radiators. Mine has their plate on it. If anyone wants to buy one, going direct I'm sure will save you money. These things are expensive.

 

Yes it was made in China, We also have a lot of stuff that is manufactured there and I have noticed especially with aluminium the quality over the years has got better, The supplier has since gotten back to me and is refunding in full and doesn't want it back. I think I will alter it to fit and use it. If it doesn't last we have a manufacturer local to us that could build one too,,I've used them for around 30 years
Ray

 

Ah! Pleased to hear that! Someone wins at last. I advise people to flush the outer core of aluminium radiators every time they wash the car if they are in a salt laden air environment. My sister has driven a long string of Toyotas & runs on high mileage quickly. Her radiator failure rate has been unsatisfactory in my books.

A lot of nonsense is spoken about efficiency & the thermal conductivity of copper/brass vs aluminium. Copper/brass wins hands down but there are caveats regarding the interface of materials, manufacturing/construction methodology, core/tube spacing etc. The major benefit of aluminium is weight, cost & a level of heat transfer to air in some construction/configurations to be fair. Copper/brass will outlast aluminium in radiators by a large factor/margin. Fins have not been soldered to copper/brass radiator core tubes since Noah's Ark.

This is actually a fair minded article on the subject in layman's terms. There are far better articles but beyond the general understanding of the man in the street.

https://www.hotrodhotline.com/md/htm..._vs_copper.php

 

I put an aluminium radiator in my 1957 MK1 2.4 and am quite happy with the cooling even though I live in sub-tropical Queensland, Australia. The price was A$230 which was only a fraction of the quoted A$1000 to re-core the old one.
The only trap is that the radiator cap supplied was way too high a pressure at 1.2 bar or about 17PSI. One of the old dish type welch plugs failed and consultations with older mechanics suggested a max of 7 PSI. I modified the cap with a lighter spring and it is now running at about 5 PSI.
Another acquaintance with a MK1 which had the original shrouds around the fan, found that the mounts for the shrouds on the aluminium radiator were incorrect and there were no internal nuts on the mounting points.
My car doesn't have shrouds but I run a MK 2 fan blade which beats the heck out of the miserable little 4 blade fan which was originally fitted
Bill Mac

 

That about sums it up. Aluminium radiators are light & cheap & do an adequate job of cooling. The negatives are shorter life in service & lack of cooling capability in extreme circumstances size/design for size/design.

They are a cost saving measure by OEM's. Considered a throw away & replace item like many things today.

You get what you pay for.

 

I opted for an American made aluminum radiator both for weight, quality, increased cooling design and their ability to custom design the radiator for both direct swap and increased fins, etc


What I have found that has worked well is using Evans cooling fluid instead of standard radiator fluid/water. Now most factory radiators are also aluminum and some even cheap plastic, so now the old school brass is becoming more infrequent to find or service.

In reality the best thing I did for cooling the Jaguar with my massive heat with the V8 and headers was the simple fabrication of the ram air scoops we made that scoop more air up and then have them flow around the engine via a "V" shaped aluminum to direct the air out of the engine bay. When the car is on the ground you barely can see the aluminum ram air scoops but that to me is way more valuable than what type of radiator because the Jaguar engine bay does not have a good way to have the air flow in and exhaust heat build up. I never had an issue with the cooling ability of the radiator but more the venting of the engine bay as it became essentially an oven without the ram air intake.

You cannot see any difference between radiators on the outside and to me I like the look of the aluminum better and have had brass in other cars but it was always a pain to keep in shiny but both can work but newer more efficient designs and increased fins are more common with aluminum.

 

Cheap & cheerful & get the job done. Most Toyota Radiators today are Aluminium core & plastic tank.

You don't have to polish Copper/Brass & CuproBraze radiators unless you like the look as Cass does. Just spray them black. They can be custom made in the most efficient designs for special application where the greatest cooling is required & people/companies are happy to pay for that efficiency. Mainly expensive industrial use today for a variety of fluid cooling. They are also easily repairable including CuproBraze.

 

For heat transfer, I think good design and manufacture are more significant than the copper/brass vs aluminium. My experience with durability is that cross-flow radiators become stopped internally and are ready to throw away after five to fifteen years, so decay of aluminium from the outside is not a great consequence. My Daimler V12 is now on its 4th radiator in my ownership. After three OE brass (or approximations to OE) this one is aluminium. Part of the choice was that it came with a pair of big electric fans and cowling. My Mk2 still has its original brass/copper radiator.

Primaz's point about a scoop under the car is a very good one. In the Mk2 family, air flow through the radiator can tend to stagnate at around 80 m/h. Stopping air flow under the radiator and helping air out of the engine bay are desirable mods. For the series XJs, I find the problem is more lack of flow at low speeds. Uphill traffic jams are nail bighters.